


No Light

by Cyane



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Arc Reactor Issues, Avengers Family, Bruce Banner's Green Tea, Camping, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Gen, Hurt Tony Stark, Insecure Tony, It Got More Angsty Than I Thought It Would, Prompt Fill, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-28
Updated: 2016-05-28
Packaged: 2018-07-10 18:22:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6999424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cyane/pseuds/Cyane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A campfire, a secret, and a bandage that isn't covering an injury.<br/>(The Avengers go camping and Tony keeps trying to hide the reactor.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Light

"Let's go camping."

Surprisingly enough, it was _Natasha_ who suggested it. It had been nearly an entire year since the Avengers and the newly remodeled 'Avengers Tower' had come around, and they had become one big, super-powered, genius, transforming family of emotionally-stressed and haunted people. What was wrong about that? _Absolutely nothing, that's what._

"What?" 

Steve's voice broke the stunned silence. Natasha rolled her eyes and smiled. "C'mon. It'll be fun." 

"Last time you said that you jumped off my shield and hopped onto the back of a Chitauri chariot," The super soldier deadpanned. Bruce, who had remained silent until this point, set down his mug of coffee and folded his arms, frowning.

"Why do we need to go camping? What will we even _do_ camping?" 

The SHIELD assassin shrugged in irritation. "God, you all are so boring. Clint will agree." Natasha looked to the ceiling in expectancy. "JARVIS?" The Artificial Intelligence replied without hesitation. "Calling Agent Barton to the main floor immediately, Agent Romanov. Is there anything else I can do to assist you?" 

Tony nearly choked on his coffee, spluttering everywhere. "Wait- what?! JARVIS! She's _evil_ , we don't _assist_ her!" 

"Sir, as I recall, Agent Romanov did save your life on multiple occasions, most importantly including the Palladium incident." 

Everyone grinned slightly at that. As soon as the humor faded, the elevator pinged and out came Clint, wearing his suit and carrying his bow and arrow, a grim look on his face. He was still shuffling weapons into numerous places while he walked towards the group.

"What is it today? Giant, red ants attacking Manhattan? A herd of tiny cows? Norse gods?" 

Clint finally took in the scene. Natasha; still in her black pajamas with the bold white lettering across the front: **Avengers Assemble!** Bruce was wearing a lumpy forest green sweater and shorts- and if that wasn't an abomination, Clint didn't know what was. Steve was in a skintight gray shirt with jeans, looking ever the model. Tony... well, he was wearing a black shirt and _fucking flannel_ tied around his waist. What was he, taking pages from tumblr now? (He was also covered in grease stains and scratches. Huh.) 

Wait- what. 

His face morphed into indigence. "You- I thought it was the call to assemble! Nat's still in her _PJs!_ " Natasha shrugged at that, taking another swig of coffee. Tony, however, burst into laughter.  
"What exactly did you tell him, Jarv?" 

"I believe my exact words were, 'Your presence is immediately needed at the main floor, Agent Barton'." 

"Huh."

"I thought it might encourage him to hurry, sir."

Clint fumed, turning to go back down to his training, but Natasha stopped him. "Wait- asshole, we're going camping!" 

It turned out that Clint did agree with Natasha, and once Tony and Steve reluctantly agreed after facing Nat's killer glare, Bruce raised his hands in exasperated resignation. "Fine, you band of idiots. Let's go camping."

_////////////_

They had picked a cloudy, freezing area up north, in the middle of fucking nowhere. 

Pine trees. They stretched out as far as the eye could see. It was actually quite breathtaking, the endless heads of spiky needles. The sky was dark, even though it was only noon the time they all arrived. It was actually quite beautiful, for the gray scale colors and the musky air. It probably wasn't Natasha's best idea, to go camping when it was October, but it was only a tad bit chilly. 

They set up camp in a clearing of pine trees, close to a silent river.

"How long are we staying here?" Steve asked, putting down his pack and starting to unload his things. (He brought so much food for his metabolism that if he wasn't a super soldier, surely he wouldn't be able to carry that.)

"A day or two, maybe three," Natasha said, swinging off her bag. She pointed to a nearby pine tree. "I suppose you're going to be sleeping in the trees, right Clint?"

Clint shrugged, smirking. "You know me too well, Nat." 

_////////////_

And _of course_ Steve knew how to start a fire without any kind of technology in less than a few seconds. He was Captain America, US Patriot, and obviously a boy scout. And if he wasn't a boy scout, he really should be a leader. Tying knots and stuff.

"You know what a s'more is, right, Capsicle?" 

Clint and Natasha were having one of their secretive SHIELD discussions up in the tree, and Bruce was zen-ing out in his tent. It was approaching night, and it was getting rather awkward between Steve and Tony, who were both huddled by the campfire. 

Steve rolled his eyes. "Yes, I know what s'mores are. I remember having them when I was seven or eight with Buc-- with, um. A friend." 

Awkward silence fell again. 

Tony sighed and tried again. "Have you ever been camping before?"

"What's with all the questions, Stark?" _Ooh. First name basis. That's going to take a while to heal._

The billionaire scowled and turned away. "Christ, I'm just trying to be friendly. Not doing that again, thanks." The silence continued until Steve finally gave in and sat down on the log next to his comrade.  
"Sorry, Tony. I'm not being fair," he muttered. "I've been camping a few times. Have you?" 

Tony nearly choked on a laugh. "You're kidding, right? Me? The son of _Howard Stark_? There was no way they were letting me anywhere where I could get lost." 

"Seems like your family cared about you." Steve added, nodding. He wasn't sure how to respond, honestly. 

A breeze ruffled them both and Tony sank deeper into his sweater, shivering slightly and slightly leaning towards the burning fire. "Nah." 

"What?"

"They didn't care about me. They didn't let me get lost because it would be all over the press and they'd get the backfire. It was more like being on a leash than anything. I was almost glad whe- ehh... never mind. Sorry about that. I guess I got lost in thought." 

Steve frowned, thinking about what Tony had just said. _It was more like being on a leash than anything._

He really wished he and Tony were friends. He wished they could talk without cutting off sentences and stuttering and getting defensive. (Maybe they could. Maybe what they needed was to go camping.)

_/////////_

They had dinner at midnight, all of them gathered around the campfire like a family, making s'mores and roasting hot dogs. Bruce brought green tea, and for a second everyone (with the exception of Bruce) panicked when they thought they had forgotten any other drink. 

Luckily Steve had all the water in his trusty hiking backpack. 

The campfire... it was nicer than everyone thought it would be.

"Please! Budapest didn't _go_ like that!" Clint retorted, shoving another marshmallow into his mouth. "Were you even _there_?!" Natasha groaned. "I was there, and I remember it better than you!" 

"Ladies, ladies. Calm yourselves." Tony sassed, cutting into the five-minute argument. "We all have stories to tell." 

Steve snorted. "We don't want to hear about your one-night-stands, Tony," he snipped back playfully, making the entire group burst into laughter. Tony put on a show of mock-offense.  
"Captain America! I would _never_!" 

Bruce sipped at his tea. "I remember that one mission we had, way back when we all first moved into the tower. Flying green ooze, was it? You called out the other guy because none of you could touch the bastards."

"And all of them started worshiping the hulk. Traumatizing, really." Clint bit out. 

Tony looked around the campfire. He had never felt so relaxed or at ease. This was family. 

_////////_

It was three o'clock in the morning when it happened. It was nobody's fault except for his own, really. 

Tony was awake, because insomnia was a bitch even when you were on vacation. 

"Oi! Tony, is there any way you can just shut off the arc reactor for a while? It's sorta hard to sleep with the light!" 

It was a call from the trees. It was Clint who said it, obviously, and Tony knew that his birdbrained friend was being completely sarcastic. But it did bring something to his attention- the arc reactor lit up his entire tent and probably was keeping everyone else up, too. He had to fill up the reactor with some emergency juice for the vacation, so it was brighter than ever. 

...and it was probably extremely annoying to his new family.

Tony waited for a few minutes before pulling out the first-aid kit in his tent and covering the reactor's light with gauze and tape and bandages. Anything he could find that would make the light go out. (While the thought of pulling it out completely did cross his mind, he thought that doing so might be a tad bit over dramatic.) 

_///////_

In the morning, the two SHIELD agents had run off through the woods to go on a 'quick' three hour jog to warm up for the day. Bruce was going down to the river, and that left Tony and Steve alone at camp _again_. Great. 

Tony hadn't slept a wink all night, feeling absolutely terrified by the dark as the light from the reactor was covered. It was black. The darkest of blacks. Tony had never felt so vulnerable. 

"Mornin', Cap." He said, walking over to get the fire started again. He was too tired for actual conversation this early. (And he forgot his coffee, so the Avengers could look forward to a drowsy, grumpy Tony for the next two days.)

Steve glanced at him in concern. "Did you get any sleep last night?" 

"Insomnia." Tony deadpanned, waving it away as if it was unimportant. (It was, at the moment.)

The super soldier gave him a strange look. "You... you didn't hear what Clint said, did you?"

Ah. So Steve heard it too, meaning that Steve- and probably everyone else- was awake at three in the morning. And didn't that just make Tony feel great. Because what that meant was that Tony's stupid fucking arc reactor was keeping everyone awake. 

_Note-to-self: more gauze._

He realized he had been silent for too long, because Steve was talking again. 

"He was just kidding, so don't take it to heart. I noticed that the glow from your tent went off and I was wondering what you did. I mean, obviously you didn't take it out or break it or anything, because you're still alive, but..." 

Awkward.

Tony shrugged, deciding that the truth was probably his best option here. He didn't even do anything wrong! 

"I just covered it up. You guys need your beauty sleep, ha." 

Steve blanched. "Tony..." 

Tony cut him of quickly. "And it wasn't even that big of a deal! Honestly, I mean I had a first-aid kit in my tent in the first place because Bruce made me- he says I wouldn't last the night without it- and usually I'm used to the light so even with my insomnia I have to sleep sometime and when I do I can sleep with it on but I didn't even realize that none of you were used to it and so it would probably be really annoying and stuff and I also forgot that my tent was see through so I just wrapped it in gauze and-"

" _Tony_!" 

Eventually the genius trailed off, hoping that he had managed to speak long enough and quickly enough to get Steve off track. Unfortunately this was not the case. 

"You _covered in in gauze_?!" 

Shrugging, Tony nodded, tapping the reactor. It made a slight crunching noise from the layers on top of it. "Yeah. It works, see? No light." 

Steve put a hand on Tony's shoulder. "Tony, Clint was just messing with you. None of us think that you should cover the reactor up. It keeps you alive, for goodness sake!" 

"Goodness sake?"

"Stop it!" Steve growled, narrowing his eyes at Tony's plastered smile. "Stop putting up that damn mask- stop changing the subject! Stop looking through the fact that I can see you- Tony, and I can see that you are hurting, and no fake smile can change what you are actually feeling!" 

Tony looked slightly taken aback at his outburst. "Uh- I just-" 

"You think the arc reactor is a weakness. You know what I think it is?"

"A liability. That's _what it is_ , Rogers!" 

"No- it's an incredible machine that you built. It keeps you alive. It's proof that deep down there, the billionaire asshole Tony Stark does, in fact, actually have a heart!" 

Tony's jaw dropped and he took a step back. There was no way that Steve could've seen the gift- the inscription- that Pepper gave him however long ago. There was no way for him to possibly know how much that meant to him. 

His eyelashes fluttered, and he was surprised that his eyes stung. "Um- oh. Um... thanks. Steve."

_////////_

That night at the campfire, Clint nudged Tony and muttered, "Don't cover up the reactor tonight, yeah? It gets scary in the dark, and sometimes I need to know that you're still there." 

Tony smiled and looked up at the setting sun. It seemed different. It seemed like a symbol of starting over with Steve, and starting over with his new family. It was acceptance. "Thank you."


End file.
